In an unprecedented move for Web advertising, Honda is buying all the online and mobile advertising space sold by Sony Pictures Television for a week starting Wednesday to promote the launch of its Honda Fit.
While it's not uncommon for advertisers to buy all the available ad space tied to a particular TV show or single Web site to drown out the competition, Honda's half-million dollar deal with Sony takes that strategy a step further by extending across all Sony's mobile and online entertainment and third-party sites in the U.S.
Marketers have long been concerned about breaking through the crush of advertising on television. Now, with marketers following consumers online in droves, advertising clutter is becoming a major issue on the Web as well. The average Web surfer is exposed to thousands of online ads a month -- and remembers very few of them.
"The fact is, that like any part of the media landscape, it is harder and harder to break through," says Edmund Purcell, vice president and interactive management supervisor at RPA, American Honda's advertising agency. "We are not just throwing up a banner that could be passed over."
The Honda Fit campaign, aimed at metropolitan people who like small, fuel-efficient cars, includes ads on Sony Pictures' site Crackle, where viewers can share user-generated video. Ads will also appear on sites and music videos linked to Sony's music label Sony BMG, and on mobile networks Sony partners with, including wireless carriers Sprint and AT&T.
Ads will be tied to Sony-created digital programming across third-party sites as well, including social networking sites MySpace and Facebook; video sites YouTube and Hulu; and the virtual world Gaia Online.
Sony's digital programming includes minisodes, which are TV shows cut down to five-minute episodes for the Web and mobile; CSpots, which are original short-form videos that appear online and mobile; and Sony Pix, which are full-length films from the studio's library available via online and mobile.
Consumers often have a hard time remembering standard digital display ads, but a marketer can make more of an impact if they sponsor all the advertising space on a particular site, says Alan Gould, co-CEO at IAG Research, a Nielsen firm that tracks the performance of advertising. With online videos, if one marketer is the sole sponsor of the content, the impact of the ad can be stronger than TV, he adds. "It's more challenging to get your online display ads noticed in the first place, but once you do capture the site visitor's attention, the branding can be very powerful if you own the environment," says Mr. Gould.
Sony says it plans to pursue the Honda model with other advertisers in the future. "It's a perfect fit for what branded messaging on the Internet could be, or should be," says Amy Carney, president of ad sales at Sony Pictures Television, which sells all advertising connected to Sony's television, movie and music content across its own and third-party partner sites.
It's the not the first time Honda has tapped Sony: previous campaigns have included a contest on Crackle. Honda's latest deal with Sony is part of a broader Honda Fit promotion that includes TV ads, which started appearing at the end of September, an animated game, a Web site and a promotion with MTV Web sites set for early 2009.
Gap Hopes to Win Sales in Election
Gap Inc. is the latest marketer to try to profit from the presidential election.
As part of a campaign it will announce Wednesday, Gap's namesake chain and Web site will sell white T-shirts that say "Vote For _____" for $15 each and store windows will feature images of 70 real people who filled in the blanks on their T-shirts at Gap events over the summer.
Gap has also posted online (at Gap.com/votefor) videos of actresses and other famous people talking about how they would fill in the blank. Viewers at the site have a chance to send virtual "Vote For _" buttons to Facebook users.
Select Gap stores will sell limited-edition "Vote for ____" buttons designed by 10 artists, with $1 from each button purchase going to Declare Yourself, a nonpartisan group aimed at encouraging Americans to register to vote.
The campaign, Gap's first with an election theme, was developed in-house. It's part of the San Francisco retailer's effort to refocus on core customers in the 25 to 35 age range after trying unsuccessfully to skew younger.
"There is an enormous amount of enthusiasm and passion for this year's election" among people under 30, said Marka Hansen, president of Gap North America, who wouldn't disclose the cost of the campaign.
Other similar campaigns encouraging young people to vote have been launched by American Eagle Outfitters Inc., which this summer started selling "Vote" T-shirts, and Lucky Brand, which in late August partnered with Nickelodeon and Viacom to offer election-themed kids' T-shirts.
Marketers pursuing election themes has reached fever pitch this year, ramping up earlier than usual during the primary races.
"Younger target audiences are impassioned and involved at an unprecedented level and brands want to tap into that," said Mark DiMassimo, chief executive and creative director of New York advertising agency DiMassimo Goldstein.
Source : http://online.wsj.com/
While it's not uncommon for advertisers to buy all the available ad space tied to a particular TV show or single Web site to drown out the competition, Honda's half-million dollar deal with Sony takes that strategy a step further by extending across all Sony's mobile and online entertainment and third-party sites in the U.S.
Marketers have long been concerned about breaking through the crush of advertising on television. Now, with marketers following consumers online in droves, advertising clutter is becoming a major issue on the Web as well. The average Web surfer is exposed to thousands of online ads a month -- and remembers very few of them.
"The fact is, that like any part of the media landscape, it is harder and harder to break through," says Edmund Purcell, vice president and interactive management supervisor at RPA, American Honda's advertising agency. "We are not just throwing up a banner that could be passed over."
The Honda Fit campaign, aimed at metropolitan people who like small, fuel-efficient cars, includes ads on Sony Pictures' site Crackle, where viewers can share user-generated video. Ads will also appear on sites and music videos linked to Sony's music label Sony BMG, and on mobile networks Sony partners with, including wireless carriers Sprint and AT&T.
Ads will be tied to Sony-created digital programming across third-party sites as well, including social networking sites MySpace and Facebook; video sites YouTube and Hulu; and the virtual world Gaia Online.
Sony's digital programming includes minisodes, which are TV shows cut down to five-minute episodes for the Web and mobile; CSpots, which are original short-form videos that appear online and mobile; and Sony Pix, which are full-length films from the studio's library available via online and mobile.
Consumers often have a hard time remembering standard digital display ads, but a marketer can make more of an impact if they sponsor all the advertising space on a particular site, says Alan Gould, co-CEO at IAG Research, a Nielsen firm that tracks the performance of advertising. With online videos, if one marketer is the sole sponsor of the content, the impact of the ad can be stronger than TV, he adds. "It's more challenging to get your online display ads noticed in the first place, but once you do capture the site visitor's attention, the branding can be very powerful if you own the environment," says Mr. Gould.
Sony says it plans to pursue the Honda model with other advertisers in the future. "It's a perfect fit for what branded messaging on the Internet could be, or should be," says Amy Carney, president of ad sales at Sony Pictures Television, which sells all advertising connected to Sony's television, movie and music content across its own and third-party partner sites.
It's the not the first time Honda has tapped Sony: previous campaigns have included a contest on Crackle. Honda's latest deal with Sony is part of a broader Honda Fit promotion that includes TV ads, which started appearing at the end of September, an animated game, a Web site and a promotion with MTV Web sites set for early 2009.
Gap Hopes to Win Sales in Election
Gap Inc. is the latest marketer to try to profit from the presidential election.
As part of a campaign it will announce Wednesday, Gap's namesake chain and Web site will sell white T-shirts that say "Vote For _____" for $15 each and store windows will feature images of 70 real people who filled in the blanks on their T-shirts at Gap events over the summer.
Gap has also posted online (at Gap.com/votefor) videos of actresses and other famous people talking about how they would fill in the blank. Viewers at the site have a chance to send virtual "Vote For _" buttons to Facebook users.
Select Gap stores will sell limited-edition "Vote for ____" buttons designed by 10 artists, with $1 from each button purchase going to Declare Yourself, a nonpartisan group aimed at encouraging Americans to register to vote.
The campaign, Gap's first with an election theme, was developed in-house. It's part of the San Francisco retailer's effort to refocus on core customers in the 25 to 35 age range after trying unsuccessfully to skew younger.
"There is an enormous amount of enthusiasm and passion for this year's election" among people under 30, said Marka Hansen, president of Gap North America, who wouldn't disclose the cost of the campaign.
Other similar campaigns encouraging young people to vote have been launched by American Eagle Outfitters Inc., which this summer started selling "Vote" T-shirts, and Lucky Brand, which in late August partnered with Nickelodeon and Viacom to offer election-themed kids' T-shirts.
Marketers pursuing election themes has reached fever pitch this year, ramping up earlier than usual during the primary races.
"Younger target audiences are impassioned and involved at an unprecedented level and brands want to tap into that," said Mark DiMassimo, chief executive and creative director of New York advertising agency DiMassimo Goldstein.
Source : http://online.wsj.com/
